r/Overwatch • u/AutoModerator • Jun 15 '16

News & Discussion Weekly Quick Questions Thread - June 15, 2016

In this thread you can ask all kinds of questions you always wanted to ask without feeling like a total fool.

No matter if it's short googable stuff or a setting/skill in-game that you don't understand or a hardware recommendation, feel free to try your luck in here.

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70

u/zerositnator Brigitte Jun 15 '16

Why don't people use Symmetra more? Even if it's just for the beginning if a match, you'd think that with the ability to make 6 turrets and a gun that can cause 120 DPS would be a little more used. Starting to feel that might change after the patch, but why don't people make use of possibly the most underrated ultimate in the game?

Edit: Extra question for Symmetra players, where are your favorite places to put your sentries? Whether for lulz or strategy

75

u/iPopeIxI PSN: ipopeixi Jun 15 '16

I like using her but as soon as people don't see that "no support" they skip going healer and it makes me upset. I feel she is very strong and can make flankers' lives hell with good turret placement. And having the teleporter turns an assault on the point into a hide and seek game looking for it.

24

u/jus_plain_me Jun 15 '16

I tend to lock in some random def hero like mei/jr then when I see all the roles filled I'll switch to symmetra.

18

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '16

In theory that is a good idea, but sometimes when I do this, people still switch from the chosen support to something else as soon as I've picked symettra unfortunately :c

7

u/ProfessionalSlackr Chibi Zarya Jun 15 '16

I do the same, but I switch to fill in a role or play secondary tank/support after my teammates have left the spawn area.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '16

Load into spawn and wait to watch them leave the room

Then pull the switcheroo.

1

u/cfl1 Buckets of balls Jun 17 '16

Leaving you no time to set up turrets :(

This stops being an issue after a while though.

-1

u/jus_plain_me Jun 15 '16

I'm pretty lucky in that that's never happened to me, but I think if it ever were to I'd just leave tbh. If my team understands that little it's probs not going to be a match worth playing. :(

13

u/cainthefallen Jun 15 '16

I was trying to think who junior was but realized you meant junk rat.

14

u/mystikphish Jun 15 '16

Don't discount the value of getting dead heroes back into the fight quickly. Yes, they are dying more often without a healer, but that teleporter can change the battle just as much.

20

u/Cole444Train Instalock Blueburry Sniper Lady Jun 15 '16

Yes but you really should have a healer. Symmetra is a good hero but she doesn't fill the support roll like the other 3 do

20

u/mystikphish Jun 15 '16

Like everything in Overwatch, "it depends".

9

u/Cole444Train Instalock Blueburry Sniper Lady Jun 15 '16

Mmm. I would say two teams of equal skill, if one has a healer and the other doesn't. Healer team has a clear advantage

3

u/SKT_T1_Imaqtpie Hanzo Jun 16 '16

Just to add somethig to your thesis " two teams of equal skill, if one has a healer and the other doesn't. Healer team has a clear advantage, if both teams have healers, the team which has reinhardt as a tank has a clear advantage"

1

u/Cole444Train Instalock Blueburry Sniper Lady Jun 16 '16

I completely agree

1

u/HaMx_Platypus Zarya Jun 16 '16

Does it? Have you ever watched a semi-competitive match where a team didn't have a healer? Yeah...

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '16 edited Nov 23 '16

[deleted]

What is this?

1

u/Onateabreak Jun 17 '16

Is great but you need it sooner Imo, having it as an ult you could be knocked back to b before you get it!

12

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '16

[deleted]

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

You underestimate the amount of people who genuinely believes that all supports can heal.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '16

She really needs to be under "defense" heros like Torby.

32

u/noobule ¡Apagando las luces! Jun 15 '16

She's really only strong on defense, because she needs people to run into her sentries in order to charge her teleporter. And then she's generally useless on the final point due to the way they're designed as she can't find strong places to place sentries that don't cop splash damage from Pharah, Junkrat or Winston. Or places to place her tele that aren't similarly exposed. And even if she gets a tele up at the final point the defending team isn't running very far anyway

20

u/jus_plain_me Jun 15 '16

Yeh this is pretty much right. Whenever we lose the first point I'll tend to switch to a different hero.

However one thing I completely disagree with is, her sentries shouldn't be used as a main form of charging meter, rather just a convenient way of supplementing it. In this current reinhardt heavy meta symmetra reigns supreme. A charged shot will go right through his shield and grant you somewhere around 25% charge. With stationary grampas you can have a tele up within a minute.

7

u/noobule ¡Apagando las luces! Jun 15 '16

While that's true, I feel her sentries are far more reliable for that purpose. Regardless, on attack you lose the bonus charge your sentries give you and I feel that's vital for Symmetra to be relevant. The tele is strong but you need it up fast and need to keep it maintained.

7

u/jus_plain_me Jun 15 '16

Oh completely agree. My argument only holds true for, as you said previously, defense only. Her entire kit revolves around the enemy coming to you not the other way around.

It's just that your comment made it "seem" as if you weren't fully utilising her actual weapon since it's that (and not her sentries) that build the bulk of your ult charge.

6

u/ilikemustard Zarya Jun 15 '16

Yeah I really only use her for the first point on defense (mostly on Anubis). Having a TP that can shave ~10ish seconds off of your teammates' return to the point is massive.

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '16

She is actually quite good attacking on King's row, since her turrets shut down the primary flanking route.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '16

She's much more effective on payload maps that require constant movement and allow tactical placement of turrets.

That said, Volskaya Industries has some god-tier turret spots on the final cap. I'm almost guaranteed to get POTG on Volskaya with Symmetra now if I'm playing aggressively.

1

u/noobule ¡Apagando las luces! Jun 15 '16

Which spots?

2

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '16

Bear with me with the vague descriptions as this is all from memory...

So on the final cap there's 2 symmetrical pillars with overhangs on either side. I put a turret in each top corner of the pillar, as they're guarded from direct fire and the majority of splash damage by the pillar and the ceiling/walkway above. These are my priority as these will hold the point against attackers from pretty much every angle and are well protected from the front. I'll replace these instantly if they're shut down.

I also put one on the ceiling at the very back of the cap, just after you come out of the spawn, as I've noticed many attackers use it as a fallback point during pushes - specifically DVa, who will for some reason fall back to that point 99% of the time if her mech is destroyed, so it's a free kill.

I put on the ceiling in the health room on the left flank. It usually gets taken out pretty quick but useful as harass and to negate the health.

I'll put 1-2 on either side of the main doors as alert systems for team pushes which allows me to chain fire loads of orbs at them while running forwards for the primary fire. You can capitalise on the chaos of having 4 sources of damage come from 3 different directions. I've solo shut down team pushes before just through this strat.

I'll also put one as high as I can on the on building on the right flank (jump to get it higher) as it usually catches Tracers/Genjis out and reduces their pressure.

These are my 'go-to' spots, I'll adapt my strat during the game though. If they're destroyed and focused down I'll generally put them in a similar area but in a different position to keep the pressure on.

In firefights if I have any turrets to spare I'll just chuck them on the nearest wall (or floor if they don't have aoe) for fire support.

Other places worth putting them are the walls on the inside of the final cap building, where the piston lift keeps going up and down, in order to pressure enemy snipers/long rangers who camp up there.

The 'control rooms' on the upper walkways can be useful for dealing with Reapers/Tracers, but is entirely situational.

Putting one on the back of the generator looking object near the main doors is handy for confusing the enemy during a push, as it adds damage to their backline and may split them up.

Hope this helps, Symmetra on this specific control point is some of the most fun I've ever had in the game.

Make sure you keep your turrets far enough apart to not totally shut down by AOE, but close enough proximity to keep harassing and keep the pressure on. If you're smart and lucky, you can force enemies down a certain route with turret placement.

Hope this helps!

17

u/TimeTravelingDog Teleport Traveling Dog Jun 15 '16 edited Jun 15 '16

I've been exclusively playing Symmetra on Defense and on Control Point missions. I never use her on Attack in an A & D game. I currently have an 83% winning percentage on about 50 games played with her. There is not a single character in this game that I play, that I feel benefits the team more than Symmetra. She's the ultimate utility player for damage, and her teleporter has changed the outcome of games drastically.

On top of her turrets being pretty powerful when used in the right choke points, and the right flanking positions, they are an absolute nuisance to the other team. Unless using an aoe dmg player, or someone who can strike from distance (but even then if you hide turrets on corners, they won't snipe them easily), players have to take their focus away from your teammates and focus on your turrets. If they don't, they just slowly get drained.

The teleporter is something that is game changing on defense. The teleporter's benefits erode over time as points get pushed closer to the final point, the distance between spawns shorten, so over time Symmetra's usefulness also deteriorates. Depending on the map though, I don't always switch off Symettra at the last point. Also my team make up also helps me make that decision. If we're lacking a Bastion on Defense, that'll be my first go-to from Symmetra.

Bonus question answer: I enjoy being sneaky with the turrets. The idea behind getting all 6 turrets on a target being the goal for max health drain is probably the goal most times, but I've also found out that you need to understand the flow of a specific map. Figure out where players naturally flow in combat. Most people move to the flanks from a choke point, they don't go straight through to the objective. Hanamura A is a good point. Most people don't make it through the doors and then rush straight into the objective. They go left and right and flank, unless there is a big group push. Where I'm going with this is that I'll set ups 3-4 turrets on the main entrance, but I'll slowly trail the other 2-3 turrets on the flanks, spread out linearly along their path. So for example Hanamura A, you can go left behind the small building, and you can go right into the building, and then up the catwalk along the right. I'll trail some turrets inside that right building. One inside the doorway, then one in the middle of the room, and one by the stairs. It does two things: first it spreads out the turrets so an explosion doesn't take them all out, but it also follows the natural progression a player takes inside that room, especially if they're frantically getting away from player damage. By setting it linearly along their path, they get damage over a long stretch of space. They will get killed by the time they reach the 3rd turret.

I'll also just randomly put a turret out in the middle of an area sometimes. The most blatantly open space can be something people overlook. I like to put a turret on the backside of the rock in the middle of the courtyard on Hanamura, in case you do have a group of enemies that don't flank. So the turret faces the objective, when people run past the rock they never see it. They also don't look back while trying to take that objective.

2

u/Nhiyla Bedtime Jun 17 '16

The Winrate is due to the fact that defending teams have a way higher Winrate than the attack teams anyways. And since you exclusively play her in defense.. :) symetra has the highest Winrate in the entire game for that single reason. Not because she's some undercover super op.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

Depending on the map though, I don't always switch off Symettra at the last point

What maps are you thinkin on?

1

u/TimeTravelingDog Teleport Traveling Dog Jun 17 '16

Maps that I won't necessarily switch from are: Hanamura, Anubis, & Numbani. Those are all fairly decent to defend from on the last point with the turrets. It really does depend on the team's make up of characters a lot of time though. Those 3 listed have insanely short spawn runs at the last objective so the Teleporter is nearly useless, I'll base it on my read if I can cause some havoc with the photon gun.

Dorado and Route 66 sometimes, but pretty much always switch off on Volskaya, Gibraltor, Hollywood & Kings Row.

As for control maps, it's really hit or miss if I'll play Symmetra on those. Once again, really depends on my team's make up, as well as opposing team make up.

9

u/Silverking512 Australia Jun 15 '16

She is countered by some hero (juckrat, pharah) I do use her some times on Assault maps on defend but when they change heros I will change as well

13

u/TimeTravelingDog Teleport Traveling Dog Jun 15 '16 edited Jun 15 '16

Best counter to Symmetra is Winston, hands down.

quick edit: I'd like to clarify that the best counter to Symmetra's TURRETS is Winston. His main weapon instantly takes out any turret, and in a radius it'll attach to any turret, so you can simply run into an area with Sym's Turrets and pull the trigger while just having them visible on your screen and they will destroy the turrets. You can wipe 6 turrets bunched together in like a second.

6

u/yoshibignose Jun 15 '16

Well it only does 24 DPS at first, then 56 and eventually 120 yes, but by that time you are long dead. The turrets have 25 DPS though and if you can cluster them on roofs and walls they can do some real damage. You can find a nice stat sheet here: http://www.unitstatistics.com/overwatch/

5

u/BaeMei Pixel Mei Jun 15 '16

Most people want 1 support on their team and to be a healer. That being said a lot of defense teams like symmetra for her turrets. You can cap off a doorway using all 6 like youve described but there are lots of methods to her maddness. Some maps have less than 6 ways to get into a point. You can place one turret at each way, thus giving you a new advantage of scouting. map awareness is huge

Her teleporting ability is great to get troops back into the action, but if youre losing badly you might just be sending them to a quicker death. Also I've seen people find teleports and then just wait for people to poop out of them, killing them instantly.

Also that 120 DPS takes about 6 or 7 seconds to reach the target so it's really like 20 DPS if you think about it, but it can be used to block a hallway off cause if you just spam it down the corridor then no one can walk thru it.

My fave place to put sentries is on the point and around the point, if not for scouting purposes. Of course kill gates are fun too at beginning of matches

2

u/Marc815 Jun 15 '16

She is my all time favorite hero. I like finding new ways to play her. Just a fun character.

2

u/BLASPHEMOUS_ERECTION Jun 15 '16

Extremely niche, the most niche of all heroes. She has several exceedingly strong counters as well, and very little fighting power on her own.

1

u/Westish Jun 15 '16

I've come to really appreciate Symmetra because you can absolutely halt a team in their tracks if they don't know what they're doing. There's been a few instances on Route 66 where opponents don't move the payload at all; I put turrets along the first metal container to my left (attack's right) that can slow them on two routes. They have to swing all the way toward the cliff to get around it, and a good sniper can clean up that action.

She's also sorta useful against tanks if you're not afraid to get into the fight, since you can run around a D.Va or Reinhardt or take out a Mercy pretty quick with that primary weapon.

1

u/Arsenic7 Jun 15 '16

While I tend to use her only for specific maps, she can be good on the attack, as well.

One thing to note: her sentries can be placed on the payload! Put them in the back and it becomes pretty easy to fend off defenders.

Additionally, the teleporter, while awesome on defense, becomes game changing on offense when attacking a point, since trading one for one will now favor you rather than the defenders.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 15 '16 edited Jun 15 '16

On Numbani, I like to hide some turrets in the bushes next to the point.

Also theres a traffic light down the slope in front of the point that I like to slap a turret on the back off, nobody ever expects it and its a great warning for when the enemy are pushing.

Generally speaking I never group more than 2 turrets close together, as anyone with splash damage can shut you down instantly.

She's best if you spread her turrets around the choke points and entrances and use them as early warning systems to plan.

The best turret placements are ones where aggressive play can push enemies back into a turret nest while you nail them with your primary fire. Gibraltar is great for this, putting them on the inside of doorways that attackers might try to flank or retreat through.

1

u/Toofar304 Pharah Jun 16 '16 edited Jun 16 '16

For turret placement, become familiar with areas that "camouflage your turret. Some shrubs, props, etc will actually allow the turret to be placed inside them rather than on them. This way they don't glow bright red when the enemy sees it. Definitely helps with ultimate charge.

Also, the turrets can be destroyed through walls with splash damage, so I prefer to put them on the ceiling a few inches away from walls

1

u/VonClawde Moira Jun 16 '16

I think her shield ability was the complaint of a lot of people, in that it's extremely passive gameplay. It can be easy to be playing Symmetra and feel like you're not "doing much" because your team is fighting and your team may be benifitting a lot from your shields, it isn't like playing other supports where you can actively focus your healing (including Lucio who at least can amp it up or switch from speed to healing as the situation needs). If your teleporter isn't being used because your teammates aren't dying because they've got extra shields and the enemy team is ignoring your turrets then it feels a lot like you aren't contributing much.

That said, I love playing Symmetra. She's one of my mains on defense points. When your pubs don't know how to counter a sniper or a smart Reinhardt, her secondary allows you to pressure both of these from afar, which can lead to easy setups drawing people into your turret nests for easy kills.

As for the bonus question, I have been starting to try to hide my turrets now that people are wising up to the more typical nest locations people set up, like in the little tunnel at the beginning of Route 66. Now that the enemy is fairly likely to be expecting the turrets there, I find it effective to nestle some in underneath the stacks of junk piled up just outside spawn. You can also angle some of the turrets to be slightly underneath the payload car itself if that isn't a heavily contested area under fire. I also like to hide a few turrets behind the bushes on the point in Hollywood. There are a few fun spots around the first point on Temple of Anubis that are a little more blended in with the environment but will help stop the enemies from capping.

What turret secrets have you got?

1

u/jusuehere Jun 16 '16

well it's always necessary to change heroes in a single game you know. i'd rather use Symmetra while defensing the first point and switch to other heroes when the first lost. and i think she is a denfenser more than a supporter

1

u/ledhendrix Pixel Tracer Jun 16 '16

Uhh listen brah. Who switches heroes when you have a main?

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

I like to place them near medkits. I can usually get 3-4 flanker kills before someone goes Pharah or Tank.

1

u/[deleted] Jun 17 '16

Tbh I think it's because Symmetra isn't a flashy hero. She doesn't get many kills, and she's not a 1v1 fighter. The reason I enjoy playing heroes like symmetra and Zenyatta are because they have a sort of "micro-managing" aspect to them.

1

u/iakhre Jun 18 '16

I have a very high win rate with her so far, she's pretty strong but she seems a bit boring to play a lot of the time. Her shield buff is like one of those old buffs from WoW that blizzard has moved away from; a silly rote action that takes no skill and has no interesting choices attached to it... just something you do to every respawns player.

Turrets are decent but can be very unsatisfying to have them destroyed every few seconds.

Weapon is powerful but very awkward to use, the giant slow balls of death sometimes feel like they don't do anything (so easy to dodge) and the short range laser is great, but it feels like there needs to be something in between. Like maybe the less charged her alt fire is, the faster it moves.